Anthro Volume 5 Issue 4

ANTHRO

Mission Statement

The ultimate goal of Anthro Magazine, Paly’s social activism publication, is to create a platform and forum for students to express their opinions and voices. Social activism is bringing issues into the spotlight to spread awareness and create change in society. On this platform, we will promote unity, diversity, and respect. As a publication, we aim to be inclusive but do not tolerate hate speech of the targeting of individuals. We hope to highlight issues that we see in our community, create a safe place to discuss these issues, and to make sure student voices are heard.

From the Editors

Dear Readers,

We are very excited to present the fourth issue of Anthro Magazine this year, the first-ever fourth issue in the history of Anthro. This is an effort to continuously raise awareness of Paly community activism beyond our classrooms as issues such as transgender rights and gun control blaze across national news headlines.

This edition features topics such as our editorial stance on trans rights: “Safeguard trans rights,” “Celebrating young minds” by Lara Dumanli, “Staying in place” by Faizan Kashmiri, and a review on Paly alumni Joanna Ho’s bestselling Silence that Binds Us by Maya Mukherjee. Together these stories enable the brave and compelling voices of today’s youth activists to be heard.

As the new leadership team of Anthro, we are grateful to have this chance to be informers of social injustice in our community as it is our goal to highlight the ever growing changes in our society.

— Evelyn Zhang and Lucianna Peralta

Editors-in-Chief

Evelyn Zhang

Lucianna Peralta

Managing Editor

Saanvi Garg

Perspectives Editor

Kat Farrell

Business Manager

Lara Su Dumanli

Distribution Manager

Minirva Villegas

Staff Writers

Ash Mehta

Maya Mukherjee

Madelyn Castro

Lauren Wong

Arati Periyannan

Sandhya Krishnan

Faizan Kashmiri

Natalie Neumann

Vivian Lin

Jeremy Dukes

Photo/Art Director

Vivian Tang

Guest Artists

Noah Boyarsky

Kate Xia

Anna Van Valkenburg

Sasha Kapadia Adviser

Paul Kandell

@anthro.magazine

issuu.com/anthro.magazine

anthromagazine.org

Letters to the Editors

The staff welcomes letters to the editors. We reserve the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy and obscenity. Send all letters to anthromagazine.paly@gmail.com or to 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301.

Printing & Distribution

Anthro is printed by Folger Graphics in Hayward, California.The Palo Alto Parent Teacher Association mails Anthro to every student’s home. All Anthro work is available at anthromagazine. org.

Publication Policy

Anthro, a social activism magazine published by students in Palo Alto High School Incubator class, is a designated limited open forum for student expression and discussion of issue of concern to its readership. Anthro is distributed to its readers and the student body at no cost.

Photo illustration by Annelise Balentine

Incubator

Palo Alto High School’s Incubator class is intended to fuel student innovation by allowing students to develop and grow new publications. The class currently houses six publications: Anthro, [proof], Ink, KPLY, and new additions Veritas and Via Verde. Here, Anthro wishes to spotlight what each publication has been working on this semester.

KPLY is Paly’s online podcasting publication, providing weekly campus updates via Quad Talks and features on campus culture. Tune in to listen to dozens of podcasts covering everything from cultural analysis to current events and student opinions.

Executive Producer:

SAANVI GARG

Listen on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts:

KPLY Paly Radio

Follow us on Instagram: @KPLYPalyRadio

[proof] is Paly’s fine arts and photography magazine, focused on showcasing student artists and the Bay Area’s artistic community through features, artist profiles, photo eessays, and a Paly student gallery section. This issue, [proof] and Ink are collaborating to produce one combined magazine for a special issue.

Editors-in-Chief:

Submit your photography and/or art to:

proof.paly@gmail. com

AMANI FOSSATI-MOIANE and KAT FARRELL

Ink is a literary magazine dedicated to student expression. Our central mission is to create a platform for diverse student voices. We believe reading and sharing writing is vital to the writerly experience.

Editors-in-Chief:

FAIZAN KASHMIRI and SARINA GREWAL

Submit your photography and/or art to: literarymagazineink@gmail.com

Via Verde, Paly’s student travel magazine, made its return after a four year hiatus with its May issue. Via Verde is intended to spotlight students’ travel experiences and photographs, locally, domestically, and internationally. Staff members from Verde Magazine and the Incubator collaborated to revive Via Verde, which is joining Incubator.

Editor-in-Chief:

LARA SU DUMANLI

Coming Soon

Veritas is a science and technology publication scheduled to publish its first issue of its return by the end of the school year after a four year hiatus. It is focused on new innovations and breakthroughs that affect the Palo Alto community.

Submit your travel photos and stories to: viaverdemagazine1@gmail.com

Submit your story ideas to: veritas.paly@gmail. com

Editors-in-Chief: DIVIJ MOTWANI and VIVIAN TANG

An attack on

As Palo Alto High School students, we’ve been lucky enough to live in a mostly accepting environment. Anyone in the Bay Area has certainly seen the brightly colored pride flags, whether it be on backpack pins or proudly displayed in their own bedroom. But many other queer youth have not had that freedom.

A year ago, Anthro Magazine ran a story called “Suffocated by Statutes,” on how the rights of queer teens were under attack. New bills and statutes in Florida, Louisiana, and Arizona had gone into effect, restricting everything from the right of students to use their preferred pronouns, to a blanket ban on discussions of LGBTQ topics in Florida schools. As of writing this, according to US News, there have been 650+ proposed anti-LGBTQ laws this year alone, a terrible record set. These are not isolated state or county battles. This is a national assault on queer youth.

their representatives over trans children in bathrooms, it is obvious that this false narrative is winning. And now, it’s transforming into law.

on

This is a national assault on queer youth

These laws have been detrimental, particularly to trans youth. Over 45% of trans youth last year considered suicide because of the stigma surrounding their transgender identity, egged on by these targeted laws, according to the Trevor Project. Access to gender affirming care is being limited so much that, according to AP News, a growing community of trans people are manufacturing their own “do-it-yourself” hormone replace therapy at home. As the societal backlash against a person’s right to exist in their own identity grows, we will see this crisis only deepen. The state of trans rights throughout the United States is deeply concerning, and even entrenched liberal states like California are dragged into a new culture war.

Palo Alto must offer itself as a refuge for those who wish to transition, and as a beacon of light in the face of far-right reaction. As a state, we already continue to back trans people, providing support for gender transition. Without actively pursuing action, however, we make ourselves bystanders in a historical roll-back of human rights.

The recent anti-trans legislation that has swept the nation from Florida to Tennessee to Texas to Montana proves a dangerous regression in human and civil rights that cannot be ignored. Not only are states like Florida restricting the right of transgender people to access gender affirming healthcare, but transphobic legislation is fundamentally aiming to erase the ability for trans people to decide the gender they wish to be perceived as. It is crucial that we as students, activists, organizers, and legislators, stand in solidarity with trans people.

The fear mongering against trans individuals — the panic about trans women being sexual predators and trans people participating in sports — has proven disastrous. When the Boston Children’s Hospital is facing bomb threats over a coordinated misinformation campaign about minors getting gender-affirming surgery, and when parents nationwide rush to school board meetings to harass

This isn’t just an issue that involves a certain group of people. It’s an issue that directly affects all of our individual rights and liberties. Gender identity is a key role in how many people view themselves, and by restricting the ability to express it, we are directly launching an attack into the heart of our freedoms. An attack on one is an attack on all, and in an increasingly stringent age where the line between expression and censorship seems to draw too close for comfort, the rights of trans people are connected to the rights of all people.

As a community, we must affirm our support for trans people clearly and openly. For trans people, the right to express their gender is no different than our right to express other parts of our identity. White nationalist and neo-Nazis are able to march through our streets with police protection as they spew calls for genocide, but trans people aren’t even allowed to use a bathroom comfortably.

There is more to be done then lobbying our representatives. Supporting trans run and organized grassroots movements is important. Backing them with people power; whether it comes in the form of boycott, legislation, or financial aid; is what can differentiate us from passive supporters.

Protect trans youth. Defend their right to exist.

Trans rights violations endanger our collective freedoms

one is an attack

all

Art by NOAH BOYARSKY

Cartoons are commenting on the political situation in many states that are passing legislation rolling back trans rights and implementing features that hinder both transgender and individual rights. Check out senior Noah Boyarsky’s Anthro debut as a political cartoonist.

Celebrating young minds

Recognizing the importance of a third place

Hosted on the outdoor patio of Coupa Cafe, a sponsored local cafe in Downtown Palo Alto, Young Minds Celebrated, an event focused on highlighting youth minds by hosting them in third places. On Friday, April 31, students ranging from fifth grade to high school seniors spoke their mind on various topics.

“The reason why we are all here is so that the youth feel more supported — that’s what we should be focused on,” City Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims said in her opening speech.

Lythcott-Haims says that Palo Alto is slowly losing its “third place” since the bowling alley and Antonio’s Nut House have been lost; she says as the city gets more modernized, it’s losing its real human connection.

“We, as a community, need more places where you can go, be recognized, be accepted, so people know your name,” Lythcott-Haims said.

The third place she is talking about refers to sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s ideology that in life, people need to have a sepa-

rate environment, apart from their school or work and their home.

According to Oldenburg, these ‘third places’ are essential in the community to build feelings of a sense of place.

Lythcott-Haims says empowering the youth by hosting events in these third places allows them to express themselves easier. Provided by Coupa’s cafe refreshments and food, Lythcott-Haims says that Young Minds Celebrated was integral towards encouraging the next generation.

“These types of events are so important for the youth to feel like they are being supported and heard within the community,” Lythcott-Haims said.

Coupa Cafe’s President Nancy Coupal told Anthro that kids are the future and letting them speak their truth is critical. Coupal thinks hosting these types of events should be done more often and permits us to show support.

“Sometimes I think that if youth were in power, we would be so much better off,” Coupal said.

With a diversity of attendees and presentations varying from a violinist, two singers, a comedian, a letter to future

environmental activists and an empowering speech about political polarization within Palo Alto, the crowd was kept entertained on many different levels.

A speaker at the event, Olivia Chiang, a Palo Alto resident and student at the Nueva School in San Mateo, said she appreciates how she was given the opportunity to speak about her own interest, political polarization. After the events in 2020 with the Black Lives Matter and abortion rights movements, Chiang said she was astonished by the polarization in our city.

“I heard that Thanksgiving dinners were 30 minutes shorter due to differences in political views and that just shocked me, so I knew I needed to speak out,” Chiang said.

Chiang spoke about her efforts to diminsh political tension within the community, explaining how she wanted to advocate for more civil dialogue and youth engagement in politics and is currently creating conversation guides to help these conversations become smoother.

“Even though Palo Alto is amicable on the outside with their political views, there is still a lot of work to be done,” Chiang said.

Chiang added that by being given the opportunity to speak her mind, she feels more comfortable expressing her interest. By going to a school far away from these sorts of events allows for a deeper connection.

“The current atmosphere is just so inviting and I feel like I can speak my mind without being judged,” Chiang said. “It’s such an enjoyable experience and I would love to do this again.”

“Sometimes I think that if youth were in power, we would be so much better off”

— NANCY COUPAL , President of Coupa Cafe

“We, as a community, need more places where you can go, be recognized, be accepted, so people know your name”

— JULIE LYTHCOTT-HAIMS , Palo Alto City Councilmember

Better food, better Earth

Plant-based market raises awareness on Earth Day

, non-dairy ice cream, and vegan mooncakes were some of the foods on display Apr 22 at the Love Our Earth Festival at Menlo Atherton High School.

The festival, put together by Acterra, a local non-profit environmental organization, aimed to celebrate Earth Day by raising awareness of plant-based food, sustainability, and eliminating food waste. The food market portion of the festival included more than a dozen vendors.

Steve Yutani, a nutritionist at RamenZ, described his plantbased ramen as a tool to help anyone working to maintain a healthier diet.

“This [plant-based ramen] is an alternative for people with diabetes and for people with other disorders or deficiencies or anything like that that want to eat healthier,” Yutani said.

Due to his own struggles with blood sugar and other health problems, Yutani sought alternatives to carb-filled dishes.

“This [plant-based ramen] is the perfect fit,” Yutani said. “Since then, I turned my health around 100%.”

Yutani said he wants RamenZ’s plant-based products to encourage people to research and understand what “true health” means.

“A lot of people don’t realize what true health is because what the media and government have told us for decades, it’s not exactly true,” Yutani said.

Yutani said true health differs from person to person, but can be found through researching and finding what accommodations work for that person.

“I think people should do their own research, look at what’s good, what’s not healthy and make their decisions based on

that research,” Yutani said.

Ultimately, in order to achieve good health, it’s important to get all of the needed nutrients, but that doesn’t mean sacrificing the taste and flavor that non-plant based foods have.

Along with health benefits, other vendors, including Eclipse Foods, also focus on different environmental aspects of plant-based products.

Diego Gomez, the field and event marketing manager at Eclipse Foods, has found Eclipse’s plantbased ice cream to have multiple benefits while still achieving the taste and texture of dairy ice cream.

“It makes it easier for people to reduce their dairy consumption if they can find something that tastes just as good and that’s not harming the plant and animals and the environment,” Gomez said.

What sets Eclipse Foods apart from other plant-based ice cream businesses, is that they use the cassava, a drought resistant plant.

“Using the ingredients that we do, they’re all drought resistant, unlike some of the other products that are in the market that are, you know, almond [milk], that require a lot of water,” Gomez said.

Aside from health and en vironmental benefits, some ven dors use plant based ingredients to recreate cultural foods they ate as a child.

Annie Wang, owner and founder of Annie’s T Cakes, in corporates the traditional deli cacies she grew up with as a Chi nese-American into her baked goods.

Growing up in an Asian American household, Wang said she found it hard to find foods that were culturally relevant to fit her plant-based diet.

“The purpose [of Annie’s T Cakes] is really to make a more sustainable food system while also being able to share the important cultural foods that people had growing up,” Wang said.

Many visitors came to attend the market and festival in support of taking care of the Earth. Attendee Kate Ague com mented on the importance of events like the Love Our Earth Festival.

“I just think it’s im portant to get more in touch with what’s going on in our true reality, rather than continuing to be distracted by it,” Ague said. “And this is a wonderful opportunity to see what our options are for the health of ourselves, but especially for the planet.”

Alexandra Volkov, the co-founder of Green Wolf Foods said that there are many ways to protect our planet besides adopting a plant-based diet.

“I mean, we all are imperfect, just [take] one small step at a time,” Volkov said. “You cannot go zero waste tomorrow, but at least if you choose a reusable bag here, or you just choose a non-leather purse, or you just educate yourself and people around you, I think it’s gonna be helpful.”

“You cannot go zero waste tomorrow, but at least if you choose a reusable bag here, or you just choose a non-leather purse, or you just educate yourself and people around you, I think it’s gonna be helpful”

— ALEXANDRA VOLKOV, co-founder of Green Wolf Foods

Unite to fight

ministration] shouldn’t have called the police necessarily, but they should have sent someone to assist that Black student with the police encounter.”

Freeman said, as a Black student, she doesn’t feel cared about by her school.

The Menlo-Atherton High School community has been arranging protests, walkouts, petitions, and other advocacy efforts against police brutality in the past few weeks. This is in reaction to an incident on April 28 where MAHS administrators called the police on a student. Police officers pinned down the student, who reportedly had recently had surgery, inciting outrage in the community, according to the Almanac.

From MAHS’s student-run clubs to Stanford’s Students for Liberation of All People, the community has mobilized in support of de-escalation training initiatives for MA police.

The MAHS Black Student Union has been leading these efforts. MAHS Freshman Eboni Freeman has helped coordinate the BSU’s outreach and organization.

Freeman said that she was upset by the MAHS administration’s response to the incident, claiming it was performative activism.

“MA, they make a brand off of standing in Black solidarity and understanding the Black community and doing what they need for Black students,” Freeman said. “I’m not going to say they [the ad-

“The fact that MA hasn’t even made a stance on the treatment that that student received from the police, it really it concerns me,” Freeman said.

One of the BSU’s reactions to the incident was organizing a protest on May 1, which Freeman helped with. She said it was a great experience watching her peers come together.

“I met so many people that I feel like are literally amazing,” Freeman said. “I love planning this, I love being a part of this.”

Freeman said that she wants to continue advocating for students’ rights, as well as teaching students how to advocate for themselves.

“I hope to … help other students understand how to help each other and themselves and how to communicate these things effectively to places like admin or Atherton police,” Freeman said.

May 11, in coordination with the BSU, MAHS’s Student Protest Organization helped coordinate a student walkout. One of the organizers, freshman Nora

Acosta, was inspired to take action despite never having organized a protest before. She said her peers encouraged her to follow through with her ambitions.

Acosta said that it was impactful, on a personal level, for her to get involved in her community.

“It is a big thing, because like not many freshmen do stuff like this,” Acosta said. “This has probably [given me] a lot of confidence and self esteem to do big things.”

However, organizing the walkout was not without its challenges, as Acosta faced backlash from parents concerned about safety.

“Everybody had different opinions on it and it was really hard [to organize the event],” Acosta said.

During the walkout, participants watched student speakers at Burgess Park.

The protest has had a unifying impact on the student body according to Acosta.

“Before the walkouts, many students segregated themselves in groups,” she said. “[Since then,] everyone came together and are certainly working together and like collaborating a lot.”

Both the BSU and the Student Protest Organization plan on continuing to discuss with police and administrators to avoid future incidents of police violence.

Menlo-Atherton community takes a stand against police brutality

“I love planning this, I love being a part of this”

— EBONI FREEMAN, Menlo-Atherton Black Student Union member

Text by LAUREN WONG and ASH MEHTA

Students participate in a walkout for justice. Photo courtesy of the Menlo-Atherton Chronicle.

Who can you TRUST?

New crisis response team — without police — to debut

Since 2020, cities have been looking to dispatch alternative response teams to low-level mental health crises instead of relying on police forces. Santa Clara County plans to debut its newest crisis response team, TRUST, as a part of the county’s Behavioral Health Services Department. This is an addition to programs like PERT and MCRT.

TRUST stands for “Trusted Response Urgent Support Team” and was created by Momentum for Mental Health, a Santa Clara nonprofit provider of behavioral health services.

According to Momentum, TRUST’s main goal is to de-escalate mental health crises and substance abuse situations. When contacted, a field team consisting of a clinician, crisis intervention specialist, and peer support specialist will respond according to the TRUST website.

According to Arnold Adventures, an online publication, 25% of police shootings involve someome experiencing a mental health emergency.

The myriad of reforms in the past few years have been mostly modeled after the Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) program launched in Eugene, Oregon. Two-person teams provide crisis intervention, transportation, and resource referrals, much like the North County TRUST program.

The Palo Alto Police Department has been receptive to these reforms, accord-

ing to Captain James Reifschneider of the Investigative Services Division.

“The Palo Alto Police Department is fully supportive of the County’s new TRUST program, as it is another resource for community members who may be in need of mental health assistance,” Reifschneider said. “We think it is a fantastic program and we are happy to see it here in Palo Alto.”

Anne Janks, a program associate at Urban Strategies Council, a nonprofit that works with the Oakland municipality to survey community engagement, explains what she has noticed about the development of alternative emergency response teams during the past five years.

“One of the things that’s happened in a lot of cities is that the teams are clinically based — that’s certainly where a lot of the city’s teams started,” Janks said. “There was a lot of discussion about needing to do that because of liability.”

Janks explains that programs which are clinically based, including TRUST, require a clinician to be a member of the team. She explains the downfalls to the current TRUST model, like its increased costs.

“By making it [the crisis response teams] so clinically based, it’s done a couple of things in those jurisdictions — one, it limits how much they can grow because there’s a clinicians and social worker short-

age,” Janks said. “And it really adds to the expense because you’re paying for somebody that you probably don’t need on some calls.”

She claims that it’s because cities don’t want to have a “liability issue,” but raises concerns about this requirement.

“What exactly is the liability?” Janks said. “Police are doing it with no licensing and no training.”

The current situation with Palo Alto’s Psychiatric Emergency Response Team exemplifies the downsides of the clinician requirement. PERT’s operations are currently halted and cannot resume services until another clinician has been hired, according to Palo Alto Online.

Moreover, because clinicians are highly trained professionals, clinically-based response teams are often only dispatched to one of three types of mental health crises: suicide, a 5150 (involuntary hospitalization), or assessment for a 5150. As a result, Janks says the efficacy of mental health response teams is diminished.

“Basically asking the question: Is this a situation that requires a badge and a gun, and if it doesn’t require a badge, and a gun, who should we send?” Janks said.

According to Janks, members of the CAHOOTS program noticed that clinicians often weren’t required to use their trained clinical expertise, and thus were not needed in most situations.

Janks believes that the North County TRUST is a step in the right direction by Palo Alto, but still has large unresolved issues.

“There’s nothing inherently wrong with clinicians — it’s just that once you’ve done that structurally, you’re gonna go down the road, and that road has ruts in it,” Janks said. “And you will be in those ruts and if you’ve tried to get out of the road, you’ll fall back into those ruts.”

“The Palo Alto Police Department is fully supportive of the County’s new TRUST program, as it is another resource for community members who may be in need of mental health assistance”

— JAMES REIFSHNEIDER, Captain of the Palo Alto Investigative Services Division

Our moon and stars

Students reveal mural to support Cherokee delegate to Congress

Text by MAYA MUKHERJEE and ARATI PERIYANNAN

Asquare of red fabric falls away, revealing a 16-square painting of a Native American woman. The depiction is green, orange, yellow, white, and black to match the Cherokee Nation flag, with each color representing something significant to the tribe.

Student artists based their mural, which covers a wall on the front of the Palo Alto High School 800s building, on a photo of Cherokee congressional delegate designee Kimberly Teehee from when Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin appointed her as the designee in 2019. Around her are the Cherokee Seal, in which each point on the seven-pointed star represents a Cherokee clan; the phrase “Why not now?” referencing a quote from Teehee; and a handprint, to represent missing Cherokee women and children.

Right before history teacher Eric Bloom and senior Kellyn Scheel remove the cover from the mural, with Teehee and a crowd of students, parents, and teachers applauding, senior and project manager Megha Madhabhushi announces the project.

“At the end of the day, we are all one people who fall asleep to the same moon and the same set of stars,” she says. “So without further ado: Same Moon, Same Stars.”

This scene took place at an event held on Monday by a team of seniors in the Social Justice Pathway, in which they revealed their mural project and hosted a speech by Teehee and a virtual mes sage from Hoskin. This project, which stemmed from a junior year assignment, had been in the works for months and aims to spread awareness about the fight to get Teehee seated as a non-voting del egate to Congress, as promised by the Treaty of New Echota.

This 1835 treaty moved the Chero kee tribe West, commonly known as the Trail of the Tears. It also promised the Cherokee Nation a non-voting delegate to Congress, a promise which has gone unfulfilled for nearly 200 years. SJP stu

dents learned about this in their history class, and several were inspired to take action to educate other students about it, according to Madhabhushi.

“We thought that a mural would be a really good way to attract the attention in our community because it’s art and it’s in a very central location at our high school,” Madhabhushi said. “That would draw people in and hopefully promote learning.”

Teehee, who gave a speech and hosted a quwestion-and-answer session at the event, said she believes the mural is a valuable tool in promoting knowledge about the Cherokee Nation.

“The more education we get out there, the more awareness, I think the better,” Teehee said. “We’ll have a chance in the future of having less misrepresentation.”

Having a delegate in Congress is important because it would show the accountability of the federal government and would increase Native American representation in the government, Teehee said.

“Having a seat at the table, and having a voice where policy discussions and laws are being discussed that impact our community, because it’s not just Cherokee Nation, right?” Teehee said. “We’re

okee Nation probably rivals with people who work at Cherokee Nation have on an average day.”

However, some students said this was the first time they had heard about the Cherokee delegate issue.

“I’m definitely, absolutely learning about it for the first time from this,” said senior Ines Legrand, who attended the event. “I don’t think I knew like anything before they [the SJP students] started.”

Madhabhushi attributed the lack of knowledge within the student body and general public to the lack of inclusion of Native American issues in school curricula.

“The biggest thing was noticing how we [SJP students] were learning about this minority group in our history class, but then other history classes weren’t learning about it and were not even learning about anything that was representing a minority group [the Cherokee Nation],” she said.

Legrand agreed that the lack of education about Native Americans in Paly’s curriculum is an issue.

“I feel like first of all, there’s not always indigenous representation within our own history curriculums here,” Legrand said. “[I’m] not going to target PAUSD, because it’s also what happens nationwide, but there’s just not a lot of Teehee said she was honored to be part of the mural and is proud of the

“I think the mural, to me, represents all of the values that I hold dear as a woman, as a Cherokee, as a native, as somebody who’s made a public career in public service advancing the cause of all Native Americans,” she said. “I’ve got enormous respect for the

Photos by ARATI PERIYANNAN

LEFT: History teacher Eric Bloom and senior Kellyn Scheel un veil a mural featuring Cherokee congressional delegate desig nee Kimberly Teehee. Scheel was the art lead for the project. “I’m excited to see art being used as an agent in creating social change,” Scheel said.

LEFT: Cherokee congressional delegate designee Kimberly Teehee

Heroes never forgotten

One student’s project to ensure that veterans’ memories live on

Walking along the Senior Quad at Palo Alto High School, most students never realize what stands as the only remembrance of students long since past. In a hurry to catch up with friends or late to class, not stopping to read the lines engraved in metal both rusted and corroded. But standing still in time, the Veterans Plaque still shines, begging to tell the stories of heroes.

Two years ago, now-senior Harvey Vostrejs strode past the plaque, and it caught his eye.

He noticed that although hidden by bushes and dirt, the plaque felt like a calling. Brushing his fingers on the cold surface, he decided to find out who these people were.

“I was looking at it,” Vostrejs said. “I was like, who are these people?”

Vostrejs has since researched alums veteran heroes who died in combat during World War I and World War II. Delving into their past, he has written a book on their lives to showcase the students and their accomplishments.

At first, his interest was reserved for his prep period or free time. But as he delved deeper into the cause, Vostrejs decided to expand his research.

“I was putting faces to names, learning more about them. And I was like, people should know about this,” Vostrejs said.

This two-year-long project started simply by looking at Paly records from across the years.

“I started with the yearbooks to get like a basis so I could, you know, find a face and I can see what clubs they were a part of that kind of thing,” Vostrejs said. “And then from there, I used the (Paly) Journalism Archives.”

To broaden his search, Vostrejs visited the National Archives to find more in-

formation in government documents.

Darla Secor, historian and archivist at the Palo Alto Historical Association, met Vostrejs in the association’s re-opening to the public after COVID, where Secor showed him the obituary where he gets most of his information from.

“Harvey’s enthusiasm for not only his project, but for history in general, has been so cool to see,” Secor said.

Vostrejs recounted the roadblocks that prevented him from getting the know students’ past.

“There was so much information or a big supreme lack of information and I couldn’t tell,” Vostrejs said. “You know, it felt like I couldn’t find anything on someone. I felt like a failure.”

Many struggles stemmed from lack of available information.

“It was like, all I have is a name,” Vostrejs said. “I have a death date maybe if I’m lucky, but I don’t know who you were and I want to share your story.”

As more time went on, word spread of Vostrejs project.

“I did outreach and basically reached out to anyone who might know anything and then they connected me to other people as a whole spiderweb of communication,” Vostrejs said.

Of 85 veterans, some family members were able to contact Vostrejs and recount the heroes once-ordinary lives.

“I’m hoping more will reach out to me as time goes on because it’s a living document and I’m still getting veterans reaching out to me,” Vostrejs said.

At the Golden Gate cemetery, Vostrejs encountered multiple families as he wandered and paid tribute to the fallen.

“We didn’t speak much but it was this connection just like you know, a grief even if it wasn’t someone I knew,” Vostrejs said.

On a trip to the Vietnam Memorial in D.C, Vostrejs printed out pamphlets of information on Vietnam veterans. Assuming no one would read them or leave them to get blown away in the wind, he was surprised to see a pair of kids read its contents and scan the wall for a name.

“I heard this little boy, he was looking at Arthur Grimes [and] goes, ‘He wants to be a drummer like me!’” Vostrejs said.

Its these moments that make Vostrejs project that much worth it.

“They’ll probably look back and wonder…what are you talking about, but to me that will be a memory that I will never forget,” Vostrejs said.

Vostrejs is moving to Boston in the fall but will ultimately make trips to D.C to visit the National Archives and cemeteries along the east coast to Virginia where most of the Paly alums are buried.

“Even if I’m leaving Paly, these stories … these people have become so important to me that I want to keep learning,” Vostrejs said.

Eric Bloom, one of Vostrejs’ Social Justice Pathway teachers says this book is the kind of action that inhibits change.

“SJP’s philosophy is to elevate unheard voices and this project did that,” Bloom said. “I believe as he learned more about these vet’s they became real people who made a real sacrifice for their country — these once forgotten men, were remembered.”

Secor says this project has allowed her to see Vostrejs passion for history.

“It was really great to see the progression of Harvey’s project, from his initial idea to the published compilation,” Secor said. “And sometime during that process he saw the magic of the archives, which is what we hope and wish to see, especially in young people.”

Because of a lifelong interest in World War history since he was six, Vostrejs is planning to double major in biology and history.

“No matter what, I’m always going to pursue history,” Vostrejs said.

“No one would and these people especially, did not deserve to be forgotten”

— HARVEY VOSTREJS, author of Paly Heroes Archive

Taking back Tibet

Students for a Free Tibet fights for Tibetan independence

Text by EVELYN ZHANG and VIVIAN TANG

Photo Courtesy of TSERING DICKEY

I’m Tibetan”

“Oh, so you’re technically Chinese?”

Tsering Dickey, a junior and the vice president of the Bay Area chapter of Students for a Free Tibet, isn’t a stranger to such implicitly biased remarks.

“One specific time that I remember [this incident] is during an International Fair,” Dickey said. “Even after I explained that I was Tibetan, people would still say things like ‘are you sure you’re not Chinese or Korean?’”

However, Dickey does use the ignorance and misrepresentation that she experiences as fuel for her fight for Tibetan independence and raising awareness.

“Tibet was illegally occupied by the Chinese government and so we just really want to fight for human rights because that’s something that’s being violated constantly,” Dickey said. “There’s not a lot of media coverage about it — no one really knows about the situation in Tibet, so that’s just what we really want to advocate.”

Sveta Lee, a student at Columbia and one of the founders of the SFT group at the university, has been studying the Tibetan language and international law. She explains how the current People’s Republic of China has never had control over Tibet, and therefore its claims of Tibet are invalid.

“China’s claim of Tibet being a part of it is primarily based on the Mongolian Dynasty and Manchu Qing dynasty, based on Tibet’s close ties with these non-Chinese dynasties,” Lee said. “But none of these dynasties actually had anything to do with China or the Chinese rulers and no evidence exists to indicate that Mongols or Manchus integrated the Administration of China and Tibet or gave Tibet to China.”

The fight for Tibetan independence traces back to the “One China” principle that the Chinese Communist Party still holds to be true to this day. This princi-

ple states that there is only one sovereign state under the name of China, therefore challenging the sovereignty of territories like Tibet.

“As Tibetans, we don’t want our culture to be erased,” said Tenzin Dechen, junior at Albany High School and co-vice president with Dickey of the local SFT chapter.

Dechen says the erasure of Tibetan sovereignty and identity continues to this day. Over the past few months, the Chinese government has been making headlines for its strikingly similar actions to the United States’s past mistreatment of Native Americans. This is because of the common main objective of cultural erasure and assimilation, according to the Smithsonian Institution and Time Magazine.

“Most recently, there have been Chinese colonial boarding schools where Tibetan children [are] getting separated from their family and are only being taught Mandarin and are not being allowed to learn about their own identity of Tibetan,” Dechen said.

“The majority of Tibetan children grow up speaking only Chinese, so they’re forgetting their own language,” Lee said. “Basically, most of the culture they can access is like China approved version like songs and dance.”

According to the report by the Human Rights Watch, the Chinese Communist Party government has also been taking DNA samples from many Tibetan people and using them without their consent for surveillance and “crime detection” systems.

“Thermo Fisher’s this really big scientific company in the US, and they were aiding China by sending over DNA kits,” Dickey said. “They [China] were using those DNA kits to illegally take DNA from Tibetans and other minorities like the Uyghurs to use them without consent.”

SFT has held protests in response

“As Tibetans, we don’t want our culture to be erased”

— TENZIN DECHEN, junior at Albany High School and SFT vice president

“I’ve really struggled with it [my identity] because I’m the only Tibetan person in the district”

— TSERING DICKEY, junior at Palo Alto High School and SFT vice president

against Thermo Fisher, most recently on Feb 3 at the Thermo Fisher Scientific office in San Francisco.

“We created ‘Hands-off our DNA’ posters and signs and protested in front of a Thermo Fisher building,” Denchen said. “We also had a bunch of students holding up signs at schools.”

SFT has also been engaging in lobbying efforts with U.S. representatives.

“SFT kind of provided some financial aid for us to be able to go to DC and lobby about the [Promoting a Resolution to the] Tibet-China Conflict Act,” Dechen said. “We just went to lobby to say that the conflict between China and Tibet should still be unresolved.”

Dickey says that her Tibetan identity has been hard to grapple with since there are few students that she can connect culturally with.

“I’ve really struggled with it [my identity] because I’m the only Tibetan person in the district,” Dickey said. “And during International Day, and stuff like that, I would hold booths and stuff, but like no one really knew what was going on.”

Through the SFT organization and her family, she has been able to feel more comfortable with her identity.

“Over the last few years, I’ve been connecting with my grandmother a lot — she escaped Tibet during the illegal occupation,” Dickey said. “She used to not really talk about her story as much but recently she has opened up more so I feel like through her stories I’ve learned about myself.”

Tibet is still illegally occupied by China and negotiations between both parties have stalled

Dechen believes that the organization has empowered her to raise awareness about Tibetan independence and connect with others who are fighting alongside her cause.

“The most meaningful part is being able to have a platform to stand on and to say that I’m fighting for my country,” Dechen said. “There’s a lot of other kids that are also doing that and I think it’s a great platform to see that there are other people who care.”

Top: Members of SFT Bay Area visit Washington DC to participate in lobbying efforts.

Middle/Bottom: Protestors on March 10, 2023, the 64th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day, near San Francisco City Hall

Text by Lara Su Dumanli and Natalie Neumann Art by Madelyn Castro

We regret to inform you . . . Exploring the influence of legacies on college admissions

The committee regrets to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission into our undergraduate program.

A wave of devastation washes over the recipient as the student struggle to grapple with the rejection. The harsh truth is that no matter how many schools they apply to, or how amazing their GPA is, they are by no means guaranteed to be accepted to any university.

Many factors are taken into consideration when looking at applicants and future students. For example, whether they will be able to keep up with the academic rigor or if they will fit into the college and its culture.

Among these factors is one that has been a growing topic of controversy—legacies. The intent behind legacies is that students will already know about the school and their resources, and because a parent or relative went there, they might be a better fit.

The problem with this is that it’s giving legacy students an advantage in the admission process, which makes it harder for other students to get in.

Top schools like Stanford, Yale, and Harvard this year have some of the lowest acceptance rates this year of 3.7%, 6.3%, and 4.6% respectively. However, when you look at the acceptance rate of legacy students at those same schools, the percentage is up to 16.2% (Stanford), 14% (Yale), and 16% (Harvard) for the class of 2025 in accordance with AdmissionsSight, a college admissions counseling company.

In fact, estimates found around 2535% of admitted students from Ivy League schools come from legacy families. To put that into perspective, 1 out of every 4 students at these high academic schools is a legacy.

John Raftey, founder of Raftrey College Advising in Palo Alto, says that the impact of legacy admissions varies from university to university. However, many Ivy league schools do take legacies into account.

“Some places like MIT, don’t look at legacies at all, and some places like Har-

vard and Yale, their class could be 15-20% legacies.” Raftey said.

Raftey explains that accepting legacies is part of a business aspect for the school.

“It’s important to the schools because the legacies, especially the legacies who become wealthy, become donors,” Raftey said. “So the legacies are important to the colleges from a business standpoint.”

Along with legacies, there are many other growing controversies involving college admissions, putting pressure on the universities to be more transparent with their process.

“They [universities] need more diversity and they are under a microscope right now on how their admissions decisions work,” Raftey said.

Within the world of college admissions, universities must be diligent and purposeful with how their admissions can impact the future of the school. Because of this, Raftey says he believes that legacies will have less of an influence on college admissions in the future.

“I think that in order to be more diverse, they’ve got to open up more spots, and so they’re go ing to get away from that [legacies],” Raftey said.

According to Eric Eng, CEO of AdmissionsSight and a Princeton graduate, not only is having legacies within the family powerful, but having parents who are faculty can be more distinctive on your application. Eng says that if your parents are professors or researchers associated with prestigious universities such as Stanford, you can have an additional advantage.

“The biggest factor beyond legacies is that if your parents are actually the faculty of the school, then your acceptance rate is as high as 25%,” Eng said.

Eng highlights the fact that specifically Stanford parents and their children are typically more likely to get a boost because of their parent’s connection. He notices that 10-12 students are admitted to Stanford from Gunn every year, and most of them turn out to be legacies.

Eng touches on the shark-like culture in the Bay Area regarding college admissions stress and the unhealthy balance between success and failure within Paly and Gunn students especially.

“For [these] kids, there is a lot on the line and I do think that the Bay Area is one of the most competitive regions in the entire country,” Eng said.

A Paly junior who prefers to be kept anonymous, explains although they are a legacy student themself, it’s clear to them that legacies have a negative impact on the college admissions process.

“It’s limiting opportunities for people who don’t have [a] legacy to be able to attend high performing brand name schools,” the student said. “So I think in that way, it’s really damaging.”

Even as a legacy student, they have a lot to keep in mind when it comes to college applications.

“Both my parents went to the same school,” the student said. “And that I think…I do have to take into account that I have an advantage at the school they went to and make that a consideration in the process. But I’m also trying not to let it guide me too much.”

The college admissions process is one of the most stressful periods for seniors and juniors who want to get a head start. Schools are already evaluating students based on their academic performance, activities participated outside of school, and even their personal interests. But if legacies, donations, and having connections to faculty are factored in, there’s a lot more to the admissions process than what students can control. Does having a parent from the school really make a student a better fit?

“For [these] kids, there is a lot on the line and I do think that the Bay Area is one of the most competitive regions in the entire country”

— ERIC ENG, CEO of AdmissionsSight

Text by MADELYN CASTRO Art by JEREMY DUKES

Staying safe in college

Safety tips for seniors that are graduating

If you are an upperclassman nervous about the uncertainties of post-high school life, safety is likely on your list of concerns. Whether you plan to be across the Bay, out-of-state, or abroad, staying in a new environment poses safety risks.

In order to mitigate these risks, here are some tips for post-high school life which can be applied anywhere from classes to internships.

Finding emergency systems, like the blue light system, and phones around campus can also be helpful, especially if you haven’t saved emergency numbers on speed dial. Look for any fire routes and escapes in the dorms, classes, or apartment buildings. If you do find yourself walking alone at night, be sure to know where you are going and avoid dark and unpopulated areas such as parks or alleyways.

Lock Up

Education Transportation

Many colleges have buses or shuttles that run through campus during the day. Some schools, especially those in big metropolitan areas, provide discounts or free tickets for students on specific train lines or taxi services. For example, the University of Southern California offers free Lyft services for students.

Many universities offer campus escort services at night and some even run into the next morning. These services can be utilized through apps or websites which makes them extremely accessible. Some schools also offer apps where you can ask for someone to track your location as you get to your destination safely. The type of escort services may depend on the school so be sure to look at your school’s website to see their services and policies.

Map your Surroundings

Be sure to locate nearby police and fire departments in case of an emergency.

Burglary is one of the main crimes on college campuses. Whether it be your bike or laptop, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your belongings. Don’t leave any valuables in your car, especially if it is unlocked. Consider investing in a good bike lock and always be sure to lock the frame of your bike if possible.

Find Resources

If something does go wrong, know that there is someone to go to for help. Check your college’s website to find emergency resources and which departments to contact for various issues. Look online for the numbers of local and campus police departments and fire services. Take advantage of student support groups when it comes to finding community and guidance from others who have, or are currently having, similar experiences. Whether it be reporting a crime or simply finding support, campuses, surrounding cities, and towns have help for every situation.

Students should reject social pressures to forge their own path

Ihad thought for some time that I wouldn’t be attending my junior year Prom.

I had made up my mind a month before the event. Yet, that next month I was bombarded with the question: Are you going to prom?

I felt this question follow me every day of the week. I would look at the classroom walls surrounding me and see the imprint of Prom in the foundation of the school. I could hear the trailing buzz of students, like bees high on blissful nectar, arranging ambitious plans. The vapors of excitement wafted off of the large groups chatting away in the Quad. And later, I’d hear the words seep out of my best friend’s mouth. Even old acquaintances from middle school approached me.

Prom popped out of nowhere like a hidden foe waiting in the dark gray fog like those in old ninja movies from the 80s. Nowhere was safe. And I thought to myself: Am I strong enough to resist it?

My parents told me I’d only be able to experience Prom twice in my life. You

would think with the way they said it that prom was something bigger than a party for 17- and 18-year-olds, an event marked by destiny.

Just like spring break, when you’re forced to wake up at 5 a.m. to pack up and go somewhere with an abundance of mosquitoes, so too felt myself being unwillingly pulled into Prom’s gravitational field.

I was not doing this dance, I repeated to myself.

Day by day, my friends granted more social power to Prom in exchange for many shallow conversations on statement pieces, jewelry and coats.

“What color is your dress?”

“Will you get your hair done?”

“Are you bringing a second pair of shoes?”

I felt myself cast in the shadow of Prom’s shiny white smile as upper grade students cared only about choreograph-

The pressure veils itself as excitement. So catchy, so positive, is the excitement.

Prom dresses, which are simply pounds of tulle and more glitter than the environment can sustain, are idolized. The average black tie outfit although classy, becomes basic. And the bigger the heels, the more confidence at the dance floor.

Before I knew it, I was actively buying a ticket online. Zoning out, I punched in the numbers to my card. I grew more ecstatic by the second — I thought my smile was a good sign, but that’s when I realized: I was staring right at Prom’s blinding, glittery face.

If prom were a cult it would be one of the leading religions in the world.

My reasoning for going to prom had become simple and shallow. At the core, prom is a time to spend with the seniors and forgetting the start of AP tests on Monday. Transformed from an evening of lasting memories, it has become also become a social construct that enables harmful labeling to those who weren’t there.

The choice to be made depends on how much you have been peer pressured and how confident your opinion is to withstand it all. Prom truly overrides personal preference. Maintain your voice, and act on your comforts or discomforts.

You choose prom on your own accord, not the other way around.

And if you end up going and find yourself enjoying the evening, it was all because of you.

If Prom were a cult it would be one of the leading religions in the world

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Crossing the yellow line

Urging civil safety at the Churchill bike crossing

My phone chimed as I walked into my first period class. It was a message from my neighbor. It read:

I got hit by a car.

My first thought was that he was joking. He wasn’t.

When I saw him later that day I asked if he was okay. Although he brushed it off and laughed shakily, his bike couldn’t lie. The bend of the left pedal suggested that he was not going home without struggle.

I recall all the times I have crossed Churchill Avenue on my way to Palo Alto High School. Deliberately avoiding the train tracks to save time, I see the football field in front of me from a mile away.

Whether on foot or biking, I get nervous when taking this route. It’s not because I have to speed walk across the street or pedal faster as cars continue to make their turns, but because I’m bracing for the ghost of an impact that I’ve felt in my mind so many times before.

On all four corners of the street there’s a button you can press. Everytime, you have to turn your head to see through the green hedge of the house. I didn’t know this existed until a few months ago. I really wish they would trim the plants.

The color red is universal for stop. Yellow is a passive color that if I could put into a single word, would mean ‘maybe’ or ‘please’. A stop sign is only taken seriously when carried forward by the crossing guard, because no one betrays this

trust. No one thinks, I’m going to ignore the crossing guard.

When I first found out about this button, I pressed it. The yellow blinking lights turned on. But still, this did nothing to quell the morning traffic. The cars kept on whooshing by, ignoring the lights as if disoriented. I haven’t pressed it since, not when I can save 10 extra seconds.

Students tend to be reckless. Seem ingly without a care of the collective of both novice and ex perienced drivers surrounding them. There’s less caution when late to school, but there should be prior acknowledge ment that being early can lead to harm.

Undertaking new measures for civil safety especially for high school ers is necessary at the start and end of the school day. The Fremont Police describesthe duties of a crossing guard to be attentive towards students and con trolling traffic around them. The pres ence of a crossing guard lowers risk by...

Living close to a middle school al lows me to see the clear impact. Crossing guards make students confident.

Groups tend to stick together, break ing away from their conversations, for the briefest of moments, to say happy Monday’s to the ones in neon jackets.

Much like how students pass through Churchill daily, students also go through the California Avenue underpass. The re cent incident of an alleged sexual assault in the underpass reinforces this need for

monitoring. And with the amount of extracurricular activities held at Palo Alto High School, a variety of students stay on campus until 9 p.m. So why hasn’t increased safety happened yet?

Traffic at Churchill should become controlled and slowed down for all students making their way to school every day. I should not have to doubt my decision on whether to bike to school or not.

A stop sign is only taken seriously when carried forward by a crossing guard

A book about us

Author’s experiences at Paly make for a powerful and emotional story

Jokes about the Caltrain train run rampant at Palo Alto High School. It feels like every day I hear someone crack a witty remark about how stressed they are, and how a solution is just right on the edge of campus. Still, I believe every Paly student harbors a deeply rooted fear of the massive vehicles that zoom past our campus many times a day, because we’ve all imagined hearing the very worst news — that it has taken another life.

Author Joanna Ho perfectly captures this climate in her debut young adult novel “The Silence that Binds Us,” in which Maybelline Chen navigates life at a school similar to Paly after her brother’s suicide by train. The resemblance to our own school is no coincidence — Ho is a Paly graduate herself, and came back to campus to speak on

Preparatory School in East Palo Alto, has published several children’s books that include diverse representation, as Anthro covered in our Spring 2022 issue. Her books “Eyes that Kiss in the Corners” and “Eyes that Speak to the Stars” are New York Times bestsellers, and Ho has won awards such as Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature Honor. Through The Silence that Binds Us, Ho has branched out from children’s novels into young adult fiction, allowing her to broach heavier topics.

among students is the fault of Asian parents, and indirectly blame May’s parents for Danny’s suicide.

One parent says: “This [suicides] never used to be a problem before. It only started happening when Asian families moved in. We all know that last year, some Asian kid got into Princeton and then killed himself on the tracks. I mean, come on. What did his parents say to him? If Princeton isn’t good enough for these people, then what is?”

amazed by the accuracy and complexity with which she wrote about mental health and racial issues. Maybelline, or May, and her older brother Danny have a close relationship before Danny dies by suicide right after being accepted into Princeton. May and her parents are left heartbroken and their relationship with each other crumbles as they each fall into their own coping methods.

May’s grief is encapsulated by quotes like “Without my anchor, I floated on an endless ocean under a starless sky. I bobbed up and down. Up and down. I drifted with no thought or direction. Darkness here was the same as darkness there. There was darkness ev-

In these words, and throughout the book, I felt my own heart sinking as I imagined the pain felt by May and her

Alongside mental health, racism is a central theme in the novel. At a school event, parents of other students at the school claim that rampant stress

The main plot follows May banding together with her best friends to speak out against the racism spouted by parents and creating a community project in which many students tell their own stories. The characters are forced to contemplate how much taking a stand means to them when May’s mother’s job is put at risk because of May’s activism and when some of their friends almost abandon the project when the school threatens consequences.

As the book goes on, May heals. She never stops mourning Danny, but she repairs the broken bonds with her parents and finds purpose again through her advocacy against the racism her Asian community was facing. Ho’s balance between discussing emotional and controversial topics while creating strong characters and plotlines was perfect.

This book is heart-wrenching, but I found the conclusion satisfying and hopeful. In every scene, even without specific references to Palo Alto, I envisioned the characters moving through the Paly campus, which made the book so much more close-to-home and moving.

Wear your future day: helpful or harmful?

Keeping the college gear tradition alive

Agroup of Palo Alto High School students adorning Stanford sweatshirts lines up to face a group bearing Berkeley merchandise. The two groups hold their fists up in fighting stances to enact the intense rivalry between the two top schools. This occurrence marks the beginning of “Wear Your Future” day, a Palo Alto High School tradition that takes place annually on May 1, in which the senior class sports clothing that represents their future. Often this means sweatshirts from the school they were accepted to. For some, this tradition is a fun way to celebrate their achievements. For others, it can create feelings of inadequacy.

This feeling of inadequacy is not surprising. According to a CBS news article titled ‘5 Silicon Valley zip codes among 10 priciest in the U.S.,’ Palo Alto is one of the sixth most expensive zip codes in the country. Because property taxes are higher, public schools can provide more resources. Paly’s unique and costly extracurriculars attract parents who seek higher educa tion for their children and are willing to pay more. This is one of the reasons high standards from parents are far from uncom mon at Bay Area schools, such as Paly.

As a competi tive school, there is a good amount of pressure among students to attend prestigious col leges. Sadly, this standard is not attainable for all. Subsequent

ly, wearing your future day may increase stigma for those attending less-selective schools.

However, I argue that this Paly tradition is an opportunity to overcome the fear of judgment or the urge to pass judgment and instead come together to celebrate each student’s accomplishments.

Students who judge others by their future plans do not represent what Paly culture is or should be: a place where everyone feels the freedom to be themselves without judgment. Uninformed judgment is the mark of ignorance, as there are many factors that play into post-high school planning. Seniors, as young adults, should know how to create a safe space for people who may feel isolated from the majority.

For those who feel their future is not the standard path among students, it’s a chance to see and possibly strike up a conversation with students who are also taking less ‘traditional’ paths. Proudly representing non-four-year college plans or less-se-

gious universities.

It also serves as a way for students from the same college who would otherwise not know each other to connect or create plans, possibly even roommate arrangements.

After all the hard work the senior class has put in for the past four years to carve out a space for themselves in the world and find a path that works best for them as individuals, they all deserve a day to show off.

This day is a great occasion to defy Paly’s ingrained competitive spirit and instead lift each other up and create a space where all can feel recognized and proud.

Although the tradition offers the opportunity to create unity, the day is what you make of it. It’s important to remember that no matter the selectivity of the college, Wear Your Future day should act as a way for students to come together to celebrate their accomplishments.

They all deserve a day to show off

Photo by JEREMY DUKES

Staying in place

Students coping with new realities

Text by Faizan Kashmiri

Art by Lauren Wong

The first sign things had gone terribly wrong was when the names of the schools began to bleed together. Parkland, Uvalde, Sandy Hook, Sante Fe, Saugus High: all of them became ‘bad events’, the nuance and outpour of empathy weakened. The second sign things had gone wrong was when a shelter-in-place had been declared across Palo Alto High School at 9:16am on April 25.

For a moment, my mind went awry. I internally prayed that this wasn’t going to be the place I was struck down—not in first period geometry. Discussions of a shooter, a bomb threat, and, confusing-

ly enough, a bobcat, filled the room with feverous speculation. As quickly as my nerves had been set aflame, they calmed into a worrying, all too familiar feeling. Apathy.

In a time of very tangible school shootings, threats have become increasingly empty. Many use humor to laugh it off: people saying how the shooter must have overslept or placing bets on which students are the most likely to commit such an incomprehensible act.

comedy hosts now walk a careful balance of tragedy and comedy, having to narrowly avoid causing a public outcry should they take a step “too far.”

This leaves all of us in a particularly precarious place: continue to be perpetually shocked by the violence, continue campaigning for a difference…or fall into this state of acceptance in this new normal. Most of us can only accept this now, not out of want, but out of exhaustion.

School shootings

These types of comments are as much a coping mechanism as they are vulgar, insensitive, and distasteful in the face of a subject that involves the death of children, teachers, and officers of law enforcement.

School shootings aren’t a novelty anymore. Students across the country have grown up with them in the same way as any other known constant. Imagining a world without school shootings feels impossible when every time people demand even the possibility of that, they’re promptly shut down in the face of minimal legislative action.

Now, terrible events like school shootings have been well integrated into our culture. SNL parodied the national walkout from schools following the massacre of 17 people at Parkland. Late night

None of us want a reality where violence has become tolerable. But in avoiding this, as students, we have to continue taking the leading role on this issue. It’s a task most of us will never feel up to. But in the face of disaster, students must continue to struggle for our legislators to listen, and, until they do, continue student lead action for comprehensive gun legislation.

It is more urgent than ever that our government takes federal action against gun violence in both our schools and in wider society. As long as politicians continue to stall on this issue, so too shall we see the ripples of this cultural acceptance of violence be made very clear. People won’t stop making threats: it’s our job, as students, to mitigate how legitimate they are in the first place and how we react to them emotionally.

aren’t a novelty anymore

Good luck.

The contrast of gun violence between two countries

GOOD LUCK.

Those are the only two words my freshman year history teacher advised me when I told her that I was moving to America from Canada. It was my last day at school and in two weeks, I would be leaving my hometown of Oakville, Ontario and moving across the continent.

I, puzzled by her response, said thank you and moved on. It wasn’t until April 25 of this year, eight months after I had moved, when we went under shelter-in place at Palo Alto High School due to a school shooting threat when I fully understood the extent of that advice.

Even though I grew up in Canada, I wasn’t immune to hearing about the nightmares that are school shootings happening almost every week on American news. A string of texts flooding the family group chat every time, saying ‘Thank God we don’t live there,’ and ‘Isn’t this the third one this month?”

I never thought of myself as lucky for not experiencing a serious threat — yet here I am. I never thought that my history teacher was right for telling me good luck. That she wasn’t completely inaccurate since in 2022, there were 300 school shootings, the highest number of shootings in four decades.

Since moving, I’m always asked, “What shocks you the most about America?” and for one, it’s the fact that here, you used to practice active shooter drills while I used to practice active animal drills in Canada. My biggest concern in regards to safety at school was if squirrels

were going to attack me during recess. I’m not joking.

In elementary school, I remember that my principal explained that the only instance in which we would need to lockdown was if a wild animal wandered onto campus. The idea that a human being would be the reason was so inconceivable that it was never even discussed. At Paly, the first automatic justification for a lockdown by a majority of students is that there is an active human threat, not an animal one.

When I explained Canadian lockdown procedures to my American friends, they were bewildered. “Not even preparing you for the possibility of an active shooter?” they questioned.

And there lies the fundamental problem: the possibility. You prepare for an active shooter because there is a possibility of one, a possibility that is backed up by horrifying statistics and harrowing victim stories only in the United States.

I’m privileged that it was only a threat, nothing else. However, according to the Washington Post, the 43,450 children who have experienced an active shooter at their school in the past year are not privileged. They don’t have the

luxury of packing their bags and walking to their second period classes just like we did.

Some news sites claim that there isn’t an epidemic of gun violence in schools but rather, an epidemic of fear. Even on Fox News, reporters like to highlight that the media exploitsing gun violence victims and creates a sense of panic which sets the wrong narrative. But according to the Sandy Hook Promise, ever since Columbine, more than 338,000 students in the U.S. have experienced gun violence at school.

My response: it doesn’t matter if it’s an epidemic of gun violence or gun fear: it’s clear that it’s an epidemic of guns.

With the influx of school shootings, a common response is that we should increase the accessibility of guns, possibly the worst opinion yet. After Uvalde, some Texas politicians urged for teachers to be armed as they have an obligation to “protect.”

According to the Texas Association of School Boards, “school districts can grant permission for anyone to carry firearms on campus” under Texas Penal Code 46.03. This new regulation doesn’t outline whether there should be proper training. But by increasing the number of guns currently on the market, it increases the likelihood that gun violence occurs.

I explained to my American friends that by not practicing a lockdown in response to a human threat, it wasn’t foolish but rather unnecessary. Why would we have human threat drills when there were only 11 school shootings in Canada’s history, compared to the 16 America has had 4 months into 2023.

The U.S. may be the “leader of the free world,” but it is also the leader of a world where students are afraid to attend school.

It’s clear that, no matter what, it’s an epidemic of guns.

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Venus’ Little Stars

A developmentally appropriate program and specialized curriculum for a range of ages, infants and beyond. School readiness pathway provides the most fitting path for your child to elementary school and future academic success.

Text by MINIRVA VILLEGAS

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Activism Around the World

Shift in ruling, reform around the nation, and a fight for a voice

France: French President Emmanuel Macron put into law the pension reform on April 14, which raised the age of retirement by two years, meaning citizens won’t be able to receive their old-age pension until the age of 64. Prior to the signing, French citizens protested for weeks, but Macron pushed forward with the bill. In an article published by Human Rights Watch on May 4, the French government has allegedly started to use excessive force towards citizen protestors. These brutal police strategies have made it difficult for protests to remain peaceful. Slowly France’s citizens are losing their right to use their voices. Protesters have tried alternative approaches such as offering proposals to France’s Constitutional Council, but they have not been successful in the past.

Kenya: In the capital of Nairobi, protestors were tear-gassed by the Kenyan police on April 6 for planning demonstrations against the high cost of living and apparent fraud in the country’s 2022 election. A Reuters story explained that protests became violent and ultimately led to a church and mosque going up in flames. The leader of the protests, Raila Amolo Odinga, briefly stopped protesting but continued after realizing the government wasn’t willing to negotiate the issues at hand. On May 2, protesters were tear-gassed once more in the neighborhood of Nairobi Mathare. Stated to be unlawful demonstrations, police used tear gas as a means to keep the situation under control, but citizens persisted.

United Kingdom: In a Washington Post story ,“Not My King,” written on May 2, Karla Adam wrote that protests are now the norm at King Charles III’s events. In London, members of the public want to replace the monarchy with an elected democrat. Adam stated that one reason behind this opinion is due to Charles’ “tone-deaf gesture” in requesting citizens to pledge their allegiance to him and his new wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. Though this is a minority opinion, King Charles endures public backlash through things such as egg throwing while visiting places around the city. On Saturday, May 6, the day of Charles and Camilla’s coronation, protesters organized a rally of over 1,000 anti-monarchists to advocate and demand a change in administration.

Paraguay: Paraguayan supporters of Candidate Paraguayo Cubas stood outside the electoral office on May 2 in an effort to stop the voter fraud that occurred during the presidential election. Police arrived at the scene where protestors were shot with rubber bullets. The event quickly escalated into acts of violence such as the burning of tires and wrecking of billboards of current President Santiago Peña. The runner-up Efraín Alegre, also advocates for a recount of votes.

Thailand: 30-year-old activist Chonthicha Jangrewis is a candidate for the Move Forward Party in Thailand—which is the only major party offering a progressive left-leaning agenda. Her support in major protests have her facing 28 criminal charges with potential penalties which could land her dozens of years in prison. The Move Forward Party was renamed after their old party, the Future Forward Party which was dissolved by the Controversial Constitutional Court in 2020. According to ABC News, the Move Forward Party plans on reflecting the “legacy of anger” that their previous party left behind and have already begun by leaving their mark on a progressive agenda in the political mainstream.

Local Activism Roundup

Bay Area Youth speak out

March & Rally for Climate Justice:

Led by two Bay Area students, Palo Alto Student Climate Coalition is a nonprofit organization that strives to contribute to a more eco-friendly environment and promote sustainability within the local community. At the annual March & Rally for Climate Justice, the club hopes that the Palo Alto City Council can actively reduce carbon emissions immediately and create an attainable goal for zero-plastic use in the atmosphere.

“Our main theory of PASCC is that local action drives tangible climate justice, which is why it’s so important the youth can see opportunities to create that change,” said Julia Zeitlin, co-founder of Palo Alto Student Climate.

Postcards for Mukema Indigenous Tribe:

Organized by Paly’s Social Justice Pathway for their Mukema Awareness project, students have accumulated over 600 postcards in protest of justice for the Mukema tribe. The Mukema Ohlone, the indigenous tribe located in the Bay Area, is currently fighting to be restored as a federally recognized tribe. Gaining this would mean to finally identify themselves as a specific indigenous tribe on federal documents and empower them to have the right of self-determination. “These postcards allow Congress to give back to the Mukema what was taken away from them, the freedom to live their own life.” Siri Schaefer Bastian, co-organizer of this effort, said.

Poetry for change:

Throughout her life, Lauren Lin has always been fascinated by the power of poetry. The Castilleja Junior said her passion for poetry can allow her to express a complexity of emotion in such a simple way. After a climate rally, Lauren spoke about how being oblivious to the effects of climate change leads to an overwhelming feeling of helplessness in today’s youth. “I loved performing at the rally, poetry really ignited some fire within me,” Lin said.

Art by Social Justice Pathaway students

Art by Sasha Kapadia

Art by Lara Su Dumanli